High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission in the Juncker Commission, Federica Mogherini. | Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images

EU to propose new funds to stop migration at source

Commission will try to raise a reported €60 billion for investment in Northern Africa.

The European Commission is preparing a new proposal to spend billions in public and private money to stop migration before it starts, by boosting investment in countries of origin, mainly in Africa.

Federica Mogherini, the EU's foreign policy chief, said Monday that she and Frans Timmermans, the Commission's first vice president, will unveil the new plan in early June.

The plan would include spending up to €60 billion, mostly raised from private sources but with an EU contribution of around €4.5 billion, according to media reports. But diplomats said Monday that no final figure had been decided.

Mogherini told reporters at a meeting of EU foreign ministers on Monday that she and Timmermans hope to get approval for the plan from EU leaders at a summit on June 28.

“I cannot confirm the figures but I can confirm that Timmermans and I are working on a communication that we'll present in early June and that we'll bring to the European Council,” she said.

The plan would build upon a proposal put forward last month by the Italian government, the so-called “migration compact,” that aims to invest in African countries of origin for migrants — linking pledges of money from EU funds to stronger border controls and quicker returns of illegal migrants.

EU foreign ministers on Monday reached a political agreement on a statement calling for "effective use of all relevant EU tools and instruments as well as adequate financing” for this goal.

The plan, diplomats said, contains proposals on which the European External Action Service, the EU's diplomatic body, has been working for years. Rome had pushed for the issuance of euro bonds to fund the program but that idea was immediately rejected in Berlin.

According to the Italian daily La Repubblica, the €60 billion figure would be reached by using EU money to leverage private investment. The structure would be similar to a plan for investment in the EU, known as the Juncker Plan, for which the union is making an initial contribution of €8 billion in order to raise €315 billion over three years for infrastructure projects across its member countries.

For the migration fund, part of the EU's initial investment of €4.5 billion would come from unused structural funds from the 2007-2013 budget, according to one diplomat, who called the figure “realistic.”

EU countries are placing new importance on addressing migration routes from Northern Africa, and in particular from Libya, which are increasingly seen as a potential terrorist threat, according to diplomats.

At a meeting of EU interior ministers last Friday, France, supported by other member countries and by Europol, said it sees the migration through this route as a significant security risk in terms of terrorist activities.

EU foreign ministers on Monday also decided to extend the mandate of the Eunavfor Med naval operation, launched last summer to stop people smugglers, for an additional year. The mission will also be given the task of training the Libyan coastguard and navy, after a request from Libyan authorities.